Swedish Meatballs

One of my handsome nephews, Lars, and his parents took a journey to Lindsborg, Kansas today. The outing was school-related. Lindsborg was settled a long time ago by Swedish Immigrants to the United States. To this day, much of the Swedish influence remains. (It is a beautiful place to visit!) Lars' father, Leif, moved to the U.S. from Denmark in 1981. He was looking forward to seeing this Scandanavian town! He was not disappointed. Swedish Meatballs are quite popular not only in the Scandanavian culture but in the United States also. It just happened to be one of the Swedish foods prepared for Lars and his schoolmates today. Lars is already to make them part of his regular diet now!

I found this recipe and decided to post it here for any of you who might be interested in trying them!

Meat: (the main ingredient)
2 pounds ground lean meat: use beef, pork or veal These meats can be mixed also.(may use some textured vegetable protein ground beef substitute)
Filler: (to give the meatballs the right consistency)
2 eggs
1 cup milk, cream, meat broth or water
1/2 cup all-purpose flour OR 1/2 cup fine bread crumbs OR 1 cup torn bread OR 1 cup mashed potatoes
Salt and Pepper:
Salt to taste (1 1/2 teaspoons suggested)
Pepper to taste (white or black pepper - 1/2 teaspoon suggested)
More Flavor:
Option 1:
1 minced onion
1/4 tsp dry mustard or 1/4 teaspoon allspice
Option 2:
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

By hand or on medium speed with an electric mixture, thoroughly blend the ground meat, filler, salt and pepper, and other flavorings. Beat until very well mixed. Form into balls about 3/4"-1 1/2" in diameter: do this by hand, or use a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop, or a melon baller. Makes 30-150 meatballs depending on how large they are. Serves 6-8, more on the smörgåsbord.

Cooking methods:

Pan-fried: Heat a skillet with 2-3 tablespooons of cooking oil to medium-high heat. Fill the skillet about half full with the meatballs, and fry them for about 10 minutes. Shake the skillet gently during cooking to keep the meatballs turning and to cook them evenly, about 10-15 minutes depending on size. You may need a spatula to encourage some of the more stubborn meatballs to turn over properly. As soon as meatballs are browned, take them out of the pan, let them cool and drain a bit, and keep them warm (try using an oven-proof dish in a barely-warm oven) until ready to add sauce and serve.

Oven-fried: Use ungreased baking sheets -- the kind with rims on all four sides. Separate the meatballs slightly, bake at 450F for 10-15 minutes. Remove carefully from the baking sheets..

For most sauces, you'll stir the meatballs into the sauce then transfer them to the serving dish. Meatballs can be prepared ahead, and refrigerated in a covered container for 2-3 days or frozen in airtight containers for several months. You can freeze cooled meatballs spread out on a clean, cool baking sheet, then transfer them to airtight containers, if you want to be able to make a large quantity of meatballs and remove just enough at one time. Thawed or refrigerated meatballs should be heated in a single layer on an ungreased rimmed baking sheet for 10-15 minutes at 375F.

Brown sauce or red wine sauce or sherry sauce:

2 tablespoons pan fat
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup beef broth (may be made from bouillon) or 1 can condensed beef broth
1/2 - 3/4 cup water (to taste)
3 tablespoons red wine or sherry (optional)

Add the flour to the pan fat in a saucepan, mix thoroughly. Discard the rest of the fat from the cooking pan, then rinse the pan in some of the broth to loosen the bits of meat from the pan. Add the broth to the fat/flour base in the saucepan.

VLE-B